Volunteers

On Monday evening I attended a Social at AFC put on by the Trustees of the Chiltern Child Contact Centre as a sort of 'thank you' for all their volunteers - it was a lovely occasion full of warmth, good humour and commitment.

Child Contact Centres bring together children and estranged parents in a safe and supervised place.  Although CCCC isn't officially one of our church organisations it is held on our premises and many of the volunteers - I'm really proud to say - come from our congregation.

Monday had been officially designated in the media as 'Blue Monday' - apparently one of the most depressing days of the year!  Well none of that had rubbed off on the volunteers I met in our Carey Room that evening.  Indeed the thing that struck me most was the overwhelming sense of 'energy' amongst everyone.  Some of these folk have been 'on duty' at the Centre once or twice a month since it started three and a half years ago.  Yet their sense of commitment, energy and sheer enthusiasm for the project remains inspirational. I came away so uplifted by that spirit.

So on Blue Monday I encountered something really precious - the 'energy' of dedicated people seeking to make a positive difference to their society.

With best wishes,

Ian